Part I: Mind

Ulrich Kraft, Unleashing Creativity

Mark S. George, Stimulating the Brain

Mark Solms, Freud Returns

Carl Zimmer, The Neurobiology of the Self

Antonio R. Damasio, How the Brain Creates the Mind

Eric R. Kandel, The New Science of Mind

Part II: Matter

Nikos K. Logothetis, Vision: A Window on Consciousness

James M. Bower and Lawrence M. Parsons, Rethinking the "Lesser Brain"

Gregory Hickok, Ursula Bellugi, and Edward S. Klima, Sign Language in the Brain

Juergen Andrich and Joerg T. Epplen, Hunting for Answers

Fred H. Gage, Brain, Repair Yourself

Steven E. Hyman, Diagnosing Disorders

Eric J. Nestler and Robert C. Malenka, The Addicted Brain

Daniel C. Javitt and Joseph T. Coyle, Decoding Schizophrenia

David Dobbs, Turning Off Depression

Part III: Tomorrow’s Brain

Steven D. Hollon, Michael E. Thase, and John C. Markowitz, Treating Depression: Pills or Talk

Ray Kurzweil, The Coming Merging of Mind and Machine

Miguel A. L. Nicolelis and John K. Chapin, Controlling Robots with the Mind

Nicola Neumann and Niels Birbaumer, Thinking Out Loud

Kwabena Boahen, Neuromorphic Microchips

Stephen S. Hall, The Quest for a Smart Pill

“The past two decades have brought amazing breakthroughs in our understanding of the human brain…Best of the Brain is an irresistible guide to this new territory.”

-Oliver Sacks, M.D., author of Awakenings and The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat

“Best of the Brain is an exploration of mind and matter by some of the best in the brain business. I can't think of a better place to get a crash course on what we know about brain function and what's coming down the road.”

-Joseph LeDoux, Ph.D., University Professor, New York University and author of The Emotional Brain and Synaptic Self

From Part I: Mind

“Unleashing Creativity” by Ulrich Kraft

The ability to create is one of the outstanding traits of human beings. From harnessing fire to splitting the atom, an inexhaustible stream of innovative flashes has largely driven our social development. Significant insight into the neuronal mechanisms underlying the creative thought process is coming from work with patients who … have suddenly acquired unusual skills as a result of brain damage. Using technical advances such as functional magnetic resonance imaging and electroencephalography, neuroscientists are trying to determine just where those sparks originate.

Scientific understanding of creativity is far from complete, but one lesson already seems plain: originality is not a gift doled out sparingly by the gods. We can call it up from within us through training and encouragement. Not every man, woman or child is a potential genius, but we can get the most out of our abilities by performing certain kinds of exercises and by optimizing our attitudes and environment—the same factors that help us maximize other cognitive powers. Some of the steps are deceptively simple, such as reminding ourselves to stay curious about the world around us and to have the courage to tear down mental preconceptions. Steven M. Smith, a professor of psychology at the Institute for Applied Creativity at Texas A&M University, says many people believe that only a handful of geniuses are capable of making creative contributions to humanity: “It just isn’t true. Creative thinking is the norm in human beings and can be observed in almost all mental activities.”

The ease with which we routinely string together appropriate words during a conversation should leave no doubt that our brains are fundamentally creative. What scientists are trying to discover is why the engine of inspiration seems to be always in high gear in some people while others struggle.

From Part II: Matter

“The Addicted Brain” by Eric J. Nestler and Robert C. Malenka

White lines on a mirror. A needle and spoon. For many users, the sight of a drug or its associated paraphernalia can elicit shudders of anticipatory pleasure. Then, with the fix, comes the real rush: the warmth, the clarity, the vision, the relief, the sensation of being at the center of the universe. For a brief period, everything feels right. But something happens after repeated exposure to drugs of abuse—whether heroin or cocaine, whiskey or speed.

The amount that once produced euphoria doesn’t work as well, and users come to need a shot or a snort just to feel normal; without it, they become depressed and, often, physically ill. Then they begin to use the drug compulsively. At this point, they are addicted, losing control over their use and suffering powerful cravings even after the thrill is gone and their habit begins to harm their health, finances and personal relationships.

Neurobiologists have long known that the euphoria induced by drugs of abuse arises because all these chemicals ultimately boost the activity of the brain’s reward system: a complex circuit of nerve cells, or neurons, that evolved to make us feel flush after eating or sex—things we need to do to survive and pass along our genes. At least initially, goosing this system makes us feel good and encourages us to repeat whatever activity brought us such pleasure.

But new research indicates that chronic drug use induces changes in the structure and function of the system’s neurons that last for weeks, months or years after the last fix. These adaptations, perversely, dampen the pleasurable effects of a chronically abused substance yet also increase the cravings that trap the addict in a destructive spiral of escalating use and increased fallout at work and at home. Improved understanding of these neural alterations should help provide better interventions for addiction, so that people who have fallen prey to habit-forming drugs can reclaim their brains and their lives.